Justo talaga!!

Itong si justo ay magaling mang alaska! At di basta-basta. 

Kung minsan nagkakainisan pag naglalaro ang magpipinsan. One week ago ang last playdate nila na kasama ang mestisang brit na si Pebbles bago ito umuwi sa London. 

Huling hirit ni Justo kay Pebbling:

🎶london bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down! 🎶.  Paulit ulit. 

Bakit nya alam yan??? 

Ginawa rin nya ito kay Sofingkay. You know naman pag nag dadrama si Sofia... E di kj na. She complained of being ignored and while she decided to wear her emoticon approp to the feeling of the moment, here goes Justo's serenade to sofia...

🎶 let it go, let it go, let it go🎶

Ito rin ang nangyari kagabi habang si Ors ay impatient na kay Justo on bedtime. 

JUSTO! ! TAMA NA!!MATULOG KA NA!!IUUWI KITA SIGE KA!!!!!!!

I tell you he comes up with something new. This was his response. 

"Nakuu!! Nagagalit na si SIR!!"

Rotfl!! Talaga!

I am sorry to my English speaking readers. There is no better way to write about justo's anecdotes. 

Ka Justo

Today is Ka Justo's birthday number 4. But i really really believe that he was born in the twenties or even earlier. Maybe in the thirties but not later. We almost lost this guy when he was a week old and he totally reinvented himself when he resurrected. 

He prefers to watch live and interactive gatherings or conversations. TV bores him. Yes, i am telling you. He is a kid outside the box!  He can sit through hours of conversations and adult "balitaktakan" and "bidahan" without a wink. I know when he is savoring the moment- it is when he listens with his lips apart and he moves his eyes from person to person engaged in the business of talking. We mostly converse in Tagalog not unless we are driving a scholarly discourse. Once, I guess when he already had a fill of everything he wanted to hear he said: "uwi na tayo. Ilalakad ko pa si Tagpi!" 

Sometimes i would forget that he is only a child. At times I would think he was my Dad or somebody else's Lolo. At times an Uncle or a school principal. 

His birthday wish was shpageti and shicken. Chocolate cake "para masarap may sprinkles" and fish. " maliliit at malutong". 

He speaks in English once in a while but i worry that it is happening more often. 

"You want me to give you a gipt? I will gib you a "tale". ( dog leash is his favorite thing in the world) "you want I give retractable tale?"

He is a regular lodger in my house. He sleeps with us almost everyday. Recently his mommy did not want to give in to this nightly demand so she tried to distract him with long kwentuhan. Finally, before he conked out he said, "tenk yu ha por talking to me."

Happy bertdey Justo. You are endearingly baduy and bery bery kul dude. 

Sabi nya sa akin kagabi after his long battle with excitement for the next day: "good night Ima. You are so lovely!"

And we have a duet by the way:

Ikaw ang mahal ko

Ikaw ang mahal ko

Tunay na tunay 

Sa umaga pati tanghali hanggang gabi. 

Oh si Justo ang mahal ko

Si Kuya at si Koko too

Sofia ziva lucy at robyn

Silang lahat mahal ni Ima!

(Repeat refrain)

Last night nga pala, i showed him Ana's IG posts of Jose and Lloyd preparing his diy homemade give aways for today. 

Na touch!

He told his Ors: "Ors ayaw ko mamatay si koko pag old na kami ha. "

What Inspires you Tonight?

    Photo from @dasilva_ness IG

I have not been into meat lately and would prefer fruits and vegetables largely. 

However, i particularly enjoyed my scones with creme and fruit jam infused with tea yesterday during our escapade for lunch with Ana and Justo. 

I intend to cook some pasta with mushrooms or just plain tomatoes, fresh and sundried maybe on weekend but for tonight - hmmmmm...

Would you be inspired by some tropical hut cheeseburger? 

... in my mind. 

24/7

There was a time to enjoy the sun, 

The beach,

Games little boys and girls play,

Soda once in a while,

Biscuits and bread sold in local panaderia,

A tree climb,

Jump rope,

Piko a.k.a. hopscotch

Giggles and delighted screams

Never mind if the shorts is falling or the underwear under the shorts is, 

And then a time for rain ''' ''''' ''

Mud, puddles, wet feet

and mozzies as the Aussies call them. 

But what do they know about our mozzies?

Striped. Innocently biting. Just doing its job. All in a day's work. Nothing personal. 

That's what makes it cold! 

But that was before. Rain or shine the Sriped are here to stay.  

My chidhood days were carefree and reckless as can be.

Not the scare that we

do have now, that our children have now. 

Of course the kids think they are immortal and

The parents can be obstinate too. 

But don't be. 

Now, rain or shine

No time to beach 

No time to picnic

No time to holiday

Without the SPRAY!!

Wear sleeves. Sleeves for the arms. Sleeves for the legs and feet. 

Spray.  Spray on clothes. 

Spray on lobes of ears. Nape and neck and noses too! 

Clean your yards too! 

Cover containers or keep them roofed. 

Sweep leaves and anything convex

Shallow or deep. 

Fumigation? 

Not always the solution!

It is water soluble. 

It is for the psyche alone. 

Once done people fold their arms

And think they are safe. 

What to do?

Outsmart the mosquitoes. 

24/7. 

Dengue is here to stay. 

For now. 

TEd Fellow

I came across a Ted Fellow application form and I started filling it out.  It made me think of what I had and have been doing with my ordinary life in the last 32 years. 

One of the boxes asked: what question would you want included that we did not include in this form (more or less) in my own words. 

I wrote: what do you think an ordinary life can offer the world?

My answer:  if all of us ordinary men who do not read high falluting books or create astounding ideas or so ordinary that no one will ever recognize or remember what he does, come together as one nation- can make a great impact because of the so many ordinary men who do their bit of share of their work to make a small difference, can make or break the world. 

Then i got scared I might be chosen!!!  Hahahahaaha!!  I abandoned the questionnaire and went back to this painting inspired by a Mexican artist and was happy and content. 

Consaguineous

When you are 5th in the pecking order and there are 6 of you, you know that you have one to peck on.  He pecked on me instead while we were growing up using me as his target  in his combat games,  but that did not last long. 

We have been back to back over the long years of being the two youngest in the family.  The only two who did not graduate as valedictorians in high school. Of the remaining siblings alive, Baby bro is my minister, my retardant when I am on fire, and most of all my trusted friend who will never judge me. My sister will get jealous but she is my one and only favorite sister and my mentor and financier!  The other brother is my favorite doctor and life saver.  How blessed can that be? Got to thank Mary and Manny. 

We two however are reprimanded for being the laziest in the brood, but that is a generational perception. 

It is good to have a brother who spends his holidays with the family  whenever benefits allow it.  It is when we are simply who we are.  

I will miss my son and my sibling when they leave on Friday to two different continents where brother will be back to home and work and where son will meet new and exciting possibilities. 

Hasta la vista! 

My bed. My bathroom.

After the hospital break, we are home. Home to nature and sweet comfort. 

Thankful for recovery. Ana is back!! 

I believe that the humble tawá-tawá weed gave her platelets the needed boost! 

I looked around my home with a sigh of relief thanking those who wished Ana well   .

The rambutans are ripening nicely but i have not seen Marmalade today.  

After a while, one notices peculiar scents that we get used to once we take a break from it.  The tv room has a woody scent. And the master's bedroom smells like fermented coffee. In other words, it smells old. It could be comforting though especially for the gremlins. I blame it on the big old man whose main diet is coffee and pepsi max.  The combination is his tobacco. 

I missed a few days painting. So i tried to break the lag as soon as i settled comfortably,  still with the rice fields from my short durian vacation in Calapan, fresh on my mind. 

I thought that the aroma of ricefields would be heavenly in a bedroom. 

Last Man Standing

That is a very nice pillow and will be my pillow tonight. I brought my side kick who is sick. 

Our roles were reversed. I never knew how to be admitted in a hospital. I just get sick and they poke me or they make me go in tunnels and subject me to rays. 

I did the opposite today. I went through windows, filled up forms, signed docus and waited.  Last time I was a companion to an infirmed was several years back in Brisbane where I wheeled my son and bumped his newly sawed and sewn knees into walls. Cant blame me. Big baby was a ton too heavy for his mooma. 

This time around, I lost my patient for a while because i was wrestling with the bag cart while a security guard and not an orderly pushed my daughter's wheelchair to the admitting office. They don't have orderlies, none that was visible in the evening, after they have given their best performance in the daytime.  

Finally settling in the room, we waited for the huggers. They have these dehydrated pillows that have to be released from plastic that i tried to wrench open with bare hands.  It needed a big pair of scissors that an able-bodied nurse brought in. 

Thirsty, i realized that i cannot ask my side kick to get me water. She would do all these for me when she had the upper hand. 

I have to get it myself so I did not.  

Anyway, I do not like to go to bed bloated so i decided to just gargle water from the tap but

meanwhile, i am tempted to have some arroz caldo and BLT sandwich from the Island that Floats. THAT SOLVED MY WATER DILEMMA. 

Tomorrow? I leave it to the hands of God and His doctors.  Hoping to take her home and to get her back in soap making very soon, or old mooma will be broke. 

Amen.